The last battle
by cocky pepper
Summary: Harry has to fight Voldemort sometime... why not now? The question is who will win?... and how? Harry does not know but his destiny is waiting for him. This is my first fic. so please Read and Review! A one-shot (with an extra spin-off!
1. To care

The doors to the Great Hall opened, even if there wasn't anyone pushing them. That someone opened the doors wasn't anything unusual so no one even flinched.

Well, Dumbledore did. The moment the doors opened and Dumbledore saw who was there he raised himself in all his height and slowly but steady, one by one within the Great Hall turned their gazes towards Dumbledore. When they saw that he was staring straight ahead they turned.

It was dinner and everyone was there. Well, Ginny hadn't a moment ago but now she was, hanging in thin air clutching her throat as she was slowly being suffocated.

The students drew one big gasp as if they were one, except Harry. Just when Dumbledore motioned to talk there was a load bellow:

"ACCIO!"

Ginny, almost purple in the face, took a great gulp of air as she zoomed into Harry's arms. The curse that had strangled Ginny broke the moment she was hit by his spell.

Ron, who was sitting beside Harry, still in shock, raised his arms as Harry shoved Ginny onto him. In the meantime, all the teachers had sprung to life from their shock. When Harry looked up again from giving Ginny to Ron he found himself surrounded by no less than 4 teachers, the rest of the staff were spread around the Hall, wands out.

Right before the open doors stood Dumbledore, the air around him seemed to have come alive, it looked like it moved. Facing Dumbledore was Voldemort and behind him the Death Eaters.

A broad, evil grin leapt across his snakelike face. It was so quiet in the Hall that when he started to speak everyone heard him.

"You know why I'm here, old man. Let me through."

Dumbledore's face was like made of stone. He was quiet for a few seconds before he answered.

"Yes, I know why you're here but I can not let you through."

Even if he contained the smile Voldemort's eyes went from determined to angry.

"You know you can't hold me back from this, it's meant to be."

"That might be true, Tom. But I will not let you hurt the students." Dumbledore took a deep breath as if it hurt him to say what he had to. "Harry." That was the only thing he said. When he did Harry clutched his wand tighter and held his head high. But only for a second then he turned around a little and started to walk towards Dumbledore and Voldemort. Halfway he stopped and turned to Ron and Hermione.

"Sorry guys."

Everyone watched scared and confused. Harry stopped when he reached Dumbledore's side.

"Minerva, I want you to tell them." Dumbledore said without taking his eyes of off Voldemort. Professor McGonagall had a sad look in her eyes but gave a quick nod.

With Harry and Dumbledore in lead the whole staff, except McGonagall, walked out of the Great Hall and carried on out to the grounds.

When McGonagall started to talk everyone was quiet, Dumbledore couldn't have created that silence even if he wanted to. All of the students wanted to know. What was going on?

"About seventeen years ago there was made a prophecy.

_The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches_

_Born to those how have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies_

_And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have the power the Dark Lord knows not_

_And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives_

The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies 

It tells of a Dark Lord and a boy who was soon to be born, who had the powers to defeat him. It tells you of details about the two but the…" McGonagall had to take a deep breath before continuing; this wasn't an easy task Dumbledore had set for her. To tell the students the truth, how were they going to react?

"… but the most important message it held was that they can't both live, one of them has to die at the hands of the other." She paused and continued.

"The Dark Lord is, as you may know, Lord Voldemort." She shrugged at the name but didn't stop.

"The boy, you all know him, is Harry Potter." She let the message sink in but knew that she had to tell them the last part.

"That was why Harry went with Dumbledore…" Quite a few students looked relieved, Dumbledore were going to protect him. Their thought was crushed when they heard the last part f the sentence. "…not so Dumbledore could protect him but so Harry could protect you, _and the rest of the world._" She whispered to herself.

"This is Harry's and Voldemort's last battle, you may not leave the castle, that could disturb Harry and he needs to concentrate harder than ever before."

The message rang through the air when the students sat where they were, not knowing what else to do.

"Now, I want the Head Boy and Head Girl to move all the students up to the Astronomy tower. Make a spell so that you all have room and IF you see Harry loose, God forbid, you'll immediately get a portkey to the Ministry of Magic." None of the students moved.

"Miss Granger and mister McMillan, I know you're shocked but I need you to do this now," McGonagall said and scanned the tables only to find…

that there weren't any Granger nor a McMillan there.

After Harry had said "Sorry guys." Hermione had immediately taken her wand out and put an invisibility charm on the DA-members. Deadly quiet they had all snuck out right behind the staff. Looking around the Great Hall McGonagall noticed that all the DA-members were gone… and so were Draco Malfoy. Even though she was scared what might happen to them she had to take care of the other students, now with all the DA: s gone they had no other protection.

Out on the grounds the fight had started. It had only taken 30 seconds into the battle between Harry and Voldemort when the Death Eaters had started to help Voldemort by cursing Harry at the same time as he did.

Lucky for Harry the staff had taken them on right away and when some of the Death Eaters got a second over to curse Harry the curses stopped two meters from him, by some reason they didn't understand. After two of the blocks Harry saw a spark and knew that the DA were there, even if he couldn't see them. The curses flew all around the place, almost all of the Death Eaters had lost their mask and most of them were panting along with the staff but Harry didn't notice, the only thing he knew of was Voldemort.

"You can't win, Harry. You're to weak, just like your father and mother. They couldn't do anything to stop me and now you're all alone." Right then one of the Death Eaters sent a crucio-curse right at Harry, once again it was blocked.

"Or maybe you're not." Voldemort tilted his head to the side staring at the place from were he had seen the sparks coming from. Grinning he said with a flick of his wand:

"Accio." The simple but very useful spell Harry had used before to get Ginny hit a target, but one much closer to Voldemort than the sparks had been. Before their eyes Draco Malfoy started flying towards Voldemort. His expression was of pure surprise, not scared. He just looked like he didn't know what he was doping there, at all.

Up in the Astronomy Tower everyone was watching. When Draco came into view a high-pitched girl-voice almost screamed:

"Oh no, not Draco." Some of the students turned to look who it were, only to find Pansy Parkinson clutching her face with her hands. One second later they watched the field again all thinking _"Lucky Draco…he's way better off with Voldemort than with her."_

Both Harry and Voldemort looked confused. Malfoy, what the Hell was he doing here?

But when Draco came tumbling down beside Voldemort there was nothing questioning in Voldemort's eyes. They had turned a darker shade of red and looked like they were on fire.

"So you're on _his_ side, are you! Been spying on your father have you!" Voldemort hissed with a cold and deadly voice, he was angry. Draco still looked like he didn't know what was going on.

A thought ran through Harry's mind, he almost looked like Luna Lovegood. He shook his head and returned from the moment, was it Malfoy he had just thought that about?

"You're going to be punished severely for this." At the same time as Voldemort raised his wand and started to say the worst of the Unforgivable curses, "Avada Kedavra", Harry moved forward and placed himself between Voldemort and Malfoy, a dark but very clear voice rang so that all stopped, mid-motion.

Professor Trelawney stood with her arms hanging down her sides shaking violently but her voice… No, _the_ voice, because it didn't belong to her, was steady as a rock.

"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord is here…

born to those how have thrice defied him, born when the seventh month died…

and the Dark Lord marked him as his equal, but he has power the Dark Lord knows not,

and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives…

the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord was born when the seventh month died…

the absent of evil in heart black as night is the key to the power of light."

The green flash raced through the air and hit Harry right in the chest. Draco, who had stood up behind him reached out his arms so that he could catch Harry when he fell… but Harry didn't, the curse hit him and it looked like someone had pushed him a little but then he were back in the same position he had before. He looked up at Voldemort and let his arms fall to his sides. Voldemort stared at him, his mind working on high speed, the expression Harry had on his face was different, not wondering, thinking, scared… No, nothing like that. He looked like he had suddenly understood something. A sudden fear struck Voldemort.

"Why won't you die!" He screamed. Everyone looked scared but all his Death Eaters and also Dumbledore raised their eyebrows, Voldemort had never lost it before, not in front of anyone anyway. But Harry just stood there, calm as ever.

"Because no one, no one except you… wants me dead. Not even Malfoy here." He said with a sad chuckle. Voldemort's eyes grew bigger, they were round as plates. Then… he went mad.

"Don't you dare pity me!" He screamed.

"Crucio! Avada Kedavra! Crucio!" At that there were sparks from all over and all the curses hit was defensive walls. Then Voldemort turned and for the third time that evening they all heard:

"Accio!" Again, Voldemort's spell hit a target and Hermione came into view.

"Don't." Harry's voice was clear and commanding. Voldemort felt angrier than ever before, this boy… This _BOY_ stopped him from doing anything. _Not this time_, he thought to himself.

"Avada…" His wand pointed straight at Hermione but before he could finish the incantation there was a flash of bright, white light. Hermione fell to the ground but was not hurt. It was only the impact with the ground that made her voice an "uff".

Voldemort laid on the ground, well, his body did. His soul, or what you could call it, zoomed faster than ever towards Harry. When they touched each other Harry also fell to the ground but didn't look dead at all, like Voldemort's body was. No, he was shaking and screaming in pain. Everyone watched but was too paralysed to do anything. Then it stopped.

A whisper drew over Hermione's lips:

"Harry." Madam Pomfrey and Dumbledore ran through the crowd of staff and Death Eater's. No one had moved a millimetre since Trelawney's "prophecy-speech". Madam Pomfrey kneeled beside Harry and after a quick, close look she announced:

"He's alive." Dumbledore rose from whom he had been kneeling beside.

"But he isn't… Harry won." He said quietly, everyone heard him anyway. Harry had won, the relief showed on everyone's faces. They saw Madam Pomfrey and Professor Flitwick carefully raise Harry's limp body into the air and start walking towards the castle.

Dumbledore waved his wand and all the Death Eaters that had just stood motionless flew together and now they couldn't move even if they wanted to.

Two days later in the morning Harry opened his eyes, seeing everything in white. Shaking his head slightly, noticing that that move hurt a lot, he came up with the only thought he could.

_Ok, I'm in the Hospital wing, hence the white colour._ When he raised his arm to his side, searching for his glasses that usually laid at the bedside table, he noticed that it was not only his head that hurt at any motion. When he had found the glasses and put them on he started to try figuring out why he was there.

_Was it something that had to do with Quidditch or with Voldemort?_

Then it hit him.

He had won! Voldemort was dead… or at least he thought so. Otherwise he wouldn't be here, would he? If he was alive then Voldemort had to be…well he had to… be dead.

Even if it hurt him he sat up, the bed creaking as he did so. On chairs beside him sat Ron and Hermione, sleeping. But at the beds noise their eyelids opened. When they saw him they went from a half sleeping state to being awake as the day. Hermione started to cry silently on her chair. Ron looked at Harry most relieved.

"Hi there, mate." He said. They both smiled and all of a suddenly, the three of them were bundled up on the bed in a great hug. After a while they let go and smiled to each other. The first hours awake Harry spent talking and laughing with Ron and Hermione. Then Madam Pomfrey interrupted and said that he had to get dressed. All three of them heard her mumble something like:

"…he should be resting all week…not strong enough yet… Dumbledore don't understand…" when she drew the curtains closed around his bed so he would get some privacy when changing.

It did hurt a lot when he moved, Harry had to admit to himself. Madam Pomfrey was right on that one.

Carefully he, Ron and Hermione went down the stairs after he had dressed. They were heading for the Great Hall. As soon as they had started walking Hermione had explained that now, everyone was in the Great Hall, waiting for them… well for him, she and Ron were just tagging along. Dumbledore would talk a bit but they didn't know what else was going to happen.

A few moments later they stopped at the Great Hall's entrance-doors.

"Here goes nothing." Harry said, not wanting to elongate the moment dreaded, and opened the door. The trio walked up to their usual seats, everyone goggling at them, especially Harry.

"Welcome." Dumbledore started with a true smile on his face. "This is a time of joy and victory. The light side have won…" He continued for a while and then said:

"Without a couple of youngsters in here the victory wouldn't have been possible. I want you all to raise and give a great applaud to Mr. Harry Potter and Mr. Draco Malfoy." Everyone did as Dumbledore said and when they had finished he continued:

"I know that not everyone understands their involvement but Mr. Potter will tell you now." He sat down and everyone else followed suit.

Harry rose, he had known that this would come, not even Draco Malfoy knew why he had been so important. He cleared his throat and started to speak.

"Malfoy…" He stopped and sighed. "…Draco showed that he, who is …was my enemy, didn't want to see me dead and I showed that nor did I want to see him dead. It wouldn't have been anything strange if I had been protecting someone close and that person had been protecting me but when we showed this kind of…_bond_… it started a reaction. Voldemort, who doesn… didn't respond to anything so human died because of that power. We took care of each other even if we didn't like each other at all." The two boys looked at each other; Draco with a loathing grimace, Harry just eyeing Draco as if he was searching for something.

"Did you really think that _I_ was protecting _you_?" Draco snorted.

"Well if you hadn't this wouldn't have happened." Harry looked at him once again, with a melancholic glance in his eyes. "If you hadn't I wouldn't have been able to defeat him." The melancholic glance had disappeared and the ones that sat closest to Harry could see that he had a hard time not smiling.

"But Draco, what were you doing if you weren't protecting me?" The question rang in the air, it was a really good question too… _what had Draco been doing there?_

"You're not the only one that can make a difference Har… Potter." Draco answered not so self-sure as he usually was. And when he started to say Harry's first name lots of people started smiling, Draco was definitely loosing his touch.

"That's no answer, Draco." Harry said and sat down. "Did you want anything else, professor Dumbledore?" He asked.

"No, that was all, thank you Harry."

**The next morning in the Great Hall:**

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Draco couldn't believe his eyes, he just couldn't. _What the HELL were they writing? That a MALFOY had helped a POTTER! This couldn't be happening… it just couldn't!_

When he stopped screaming Harry walked up to his seat and sat down beside him, _at the SLYTHERIN table?_ This day couldn't get any weirder than it already was.

"Don't like what you're seeing in the news-paper, Draco?" Harry asked gently.

"Why do you wonder or even care?… and what the HELL are you doing at the _Slytherin_ table?" Draco was annoyed, you could tell.

"Well I thought that I should talk to you and since you're sitting at the Slytherin table I seated myself here. And for the rest… that was why I wanted to talk to you." Harry was as cool as ever, it really didn't show that he was talking to his ex-archenemy or that the ex-archenemy was irritated at everything surrounding him, including Harry. Well, no one of them, not Harry nor Draco, knew if they still were archenemies so they both settled themselves at ex-archenemies, they would figure out how to handle each other later.

Draco understood that he wouldn't get away from this, in one way or another Harry would talk to him.

"Get going with it!" Draco was definitely in one of his moods.

"Ok. You know from what I told you and the rest of the school yesterday that I couldn't have defeated Voldemort…" Draco flinched at the name even if he knew that the person who had called himself Lord Voldemort was dead, it was an old habit. "…without you. Of course it's going to stand in the news-papers a lot about what happened that night, especially after I have talked to the journalist at the press conference… _which actually Dumbledore could have done all by himself_." Harry muttered under his breath, he really didn't like the press. "… but anyway, if they say anything about us being the best of friends, that we had planned this from the beginning or that we have this big secret powers… don't be to surprised because that's what they're best at… wriggle and turn the truth." Even if Draco wasn't exactly happy about the kind of attention he got he still wasn't stupid enough to let one of these moments slip through his hands.

"Did you just say that they might believe that we have some kind of 'big power'!" The broad grin on his face was greedy.

"Yeees… But don't do anything stupid now, like telling everyone… or anyone that we actually have that… I mean since we haven't…" Harry got a wrinkle on his forehead, this couldn't lead to anything good, _why…why on earth had Dumbledore told him to go and talk to Draco if something like this would happen… which they knew from the beginning it would!_ Harry sighed, _to be friends… or something... with Draco, wasn't going to be fun… at all, not now anyway. Not with this hanging over them… and especially not when Draco was planning on telling the world about their so called "power"… which didn't exist. Hell, why couldn't he just be normal?_

_Just for a week? …a day? …an hour?_

He would settle with just one minute, if it were possible.

"Harry? You know you've been sitting silent for over two minutes now?" Draco actually looked a little bit worried and a lot wondering what was going on.

"Oh, sorry. It's nothing. But please don't go around talking about powers… I, well you too, have enough as it is. You know, this is kinda' a big thing so if you want attention you'll get it anyway."

"Harry, I'm a Malfoy, I don't take orders from anyone… but ok I wont say anything." Harry's eyes grew big, _was Draco actually saying that he could go along with Harry's suggestion? Maybe this could be a good friend chip after all._ "But just so you know… you owe me." _Sigh!_


	2. Spinoff

A little spin-off to The last battle…

**READ THIS FIRST!** (Contains slash.) The first sentences are just copied from The last battle… I think it will make it easier for you to understand the spin-off… and of course where it begins.

He cleared his throat and started to speak.

"Malfoy.." He stopped and sighed. "…Draco showed that he, who is… was my enemy, didn't want me dead and I showed that nor did I want to see him dead. It wouldn't have been anything strange if I had been protecting someone close and that person had been protecting me but when we showed this kind of… bond… it started a reaction. Voldemort, who doesn't respond to anything human died because of that power. We took care of each other even if we didn't like each other at all." The two boys looked at each other. Draco with a loathing grimace, but something else mixed with it. Harry eyeing Draco as if he was looking for something there.

"Did you really think _I_ was protecting _you_?" Draco snorted. Hermione turned on her seat and looked straight at Malfoy with a raised eyebrow.

"So, what were you doing then _Malfoy_, because I have a distinct memory of you begging me to take you with us, that is the former DA, now the PA." She turned and looked at Harry.

"We switched the name from "Dumbledore's Army" to "Potter's Army" Harry, just so you know." Back to Malfoy again she said:

"And if I'm not going senile I also heard you say that you didn't want Harry to get hurt…" A broad smile leapt across her face and the last part she chuckled: "…he was too good-looking for that." A bright red Draco, the red could actually compete with the Weasley's, with sparkling bright hair sat at his chair, not knowing what to answer her on that. The Great Hall roared with laughter and except Draco there were only two others who weren't laughing… Harry who was in a right state of shock and Snape who was throwing up at the floor beside the table.

A/N: Hope you liked it... and if not just read the actual ending again and forget about this. And of courseI have to wirte this like everyone else: please R&R.


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